WAWA/WeAreWideAwake is my Public Service to America as a muckracker who has journeyed seven times to Israel Palestine since June 2005.
WAWA is dedicated to confronting media and governments that shield the whole
truth.

We who Are Wide
Awake are compelled by the "fierce urgency of Now" [Rev MLK, Jr.] to raise
awareness and promote the human dialogue about many of the crucial issues of our
day: the state of our Union and in protection of democracy, what life is like
under military occupation in Palestine, the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land,
and spirituality-from a Theologically Liberated Christian Anarchist
POV.

"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all...and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave...a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils."George Washington's Farewell Address - 1796

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that, among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. -July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence

Occupied
East Jerusalem, June 15, 2009- Mordechai Vanunu and I, first crossed paths on
the first day of summer in 2005, which was five days before my return to the
USA from my first 16 Days in Israel Palestine .

On the last evening of my seventh trip to occupied east Jerusalem on June 15, 2009, Vanunu and I had a drink at
the American Colony. Vanunu had a Taybeh beer, which is produced in the last
remaining self-sufficient and last remaining Christian village in the entire West Bank.

I
ordered a Vodka tonic and Vanunu warned me, that I should never have more than
one shot a day. I replied, it was only my first and I had my last in the taxi
on my way to BenGurionAirport. I knew it would be hours
before I cleared SECURITY and the game we played had gotten tiresome for me- and I imagine it a
death unto them who make a paycheck for interrogating those who are Telling the Truth at Ben Gurion...

For
the first eight days of my ten day trip, I was embedded with CODE PINK activist's,
but missed their June 14th demonstration during Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at TelAvivUniversity against Israel’s invasion of Gaza, illegal settlements and
the apartheid wall.

"Heavy
handed police treatment of the CODEPINK: Women for Peace delegation began
immediately after members of the group unfurled several pink banners that read
“Free Gaza” and “End the Occupation.” CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin
and New York activist Zool Zulkowitz were physically dragged across the street…A
French journalist who was a member of the CODEPINK delegation, was arrested as
she crossed a small street in an attempt to take photos of the demonstration…Israeli
police and military violently shoved the group back into a wall. Delegation
member Tighe Barry from Santa Monica, California was struck in the face
with the butt of a military rifle and pushed to the ground…he was treated for a
concussion, an injured neck and an asthma attack.

"When
President Obama spoke in Cairo on June 4, a separate CODEPINK delegation that
had just returned from six days in Gaza in early June, held a demonstration
right outside Cairo University holding signs that read “Stop funding Israeli
War Crimes.” Egyptian police allowed the demonstration to take place.

“Is this the great democracy that the U.S. taxpayers pay for with $3
billion dollars a year?” cried Medea Benjamin as she was being dragged away by
the police."- Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserves Colonel, former U.S. diplomat, CODE PINK
activist who has visited Gaza three times in the past
three months, co-leading two delegations of over 120 committed justice and
peace activists.

Although
I missed all that action, I had the blessed opportunity to reconnect with Vanunu
after suffering a major failure of communication last year; and now, that is
all water under the bridge.

Vanunu
admitted, "I was isolating myself from my supporters" but the times have
changed and he is meeting with anyone who stops by his table between the hours
of 3-5 PM, in the garden restaurant of the American
Colony, in occupied east Jerusalem. I arrived at 5:30 to attend a book reading
with him and he informed me that Tony Blair had rented the entire second floor
for one million a year and Jimmy Carter was at the moment having a meeting with
Uri Avnery and Adam Keller.

Vanunu
was smiling and hesitant when he said, "I have to ask you something that I
thought sometimes. That you were FBI or CIA. With all these things you write, I
thought someone else is telling you to write all these things."

I
laughed out loud- but not surprised- and replied, "In a way, someone does
tell me what to write down. I only write what I hear in my heart and that is
where I hear God; what ever He-She is, I don't know, but I have no doubt That Mystery
is guiding me. Everything is connected and God is within every situation."

Vanunu
leaned back and scanned the garden, then leaned in and said, "I don’t
really know you."

I
laughed again and replied, "Anyone can. Just read KEEP HOPE ALIVE."

The
day before, I had given him a copy inscribed that he appears on page 102 and
throughout Chapter 11, and I speak through Jack, Jake, Terese, Brother Harold,
Kat and Riad.

However,
it was Vanunu who inspired me to became a citizen journalist, and three weeks
after my first trip to occupied east Jerusalem I established my website and
have been reporting from day one of Vanunu's historic FREEDOM of SPEECH trial in
the 'democracy' of Israel which began on January 25, 2006.

On
July 2, 2007, Israel sentenced Vanunu to six
months in jail for speaking to foreigners-who happened to be media- in 2004.

Vanunu
began talking the day he emerged from 18 years in a tomb sized cell, on April
21, 2004.
He was sentenced for treason, but all he did was tell the truth and
provide the proof that Israel had already manufactured
of upwards of 200 nuclear warheads by 1985.

Two
days before President Bush's first trip to Israel, and a day before Vanunu's
appeal was to begin, Israel sentenced him to community
service. Israel does not recognize
occupied East
Jerusalem
as part of their community, but it is the only neighborhood that Vanunu has
lived since April 21, 2004.

Israel denied Vanunu the right to
serve the sentence in his own community, but on September
23, 2008,
the Jerusalem District Court announced:

"In
light of (Vanunu's) ailing health and the absence of claims that his actions
put the country's security in jeopardy, we believe his sentence should be
reduced."

Reuters
quoted his attorney, Michel Sfard, "Vanunu was convicted by the Jerusalem
Magistrates Court of 15 violations of a military order prohibiting him from
talking to foreign journalists and leaving Israel. The original
indictment included 22 different violations of the order, but during the trial
the State Prosecutor's Office submitted an amended indictment, and he was
eventually charged with 19 violations and was acquitted of four. According to
the indictment, Vanunu held conversations with foreign journalists and provided
them with news and details on Israel's nuclear reactor. He was
acquitted of speaking to foreign nationals on the internet and via video and
voice chats…Since his release Vanunu has campaigned for the Jewish state to be
disarmed while denying Israeli officials' charges that he has more secrets that
he could divulge if allowed to emigrate. We should be clear here that Vanunu
was convicted for the very act of speaking to non-Israelis, rather than the
content of those conversations. We do not consider this appropriate for a democracy
in the 21st century."[1]

On November 24th,
2006
Vanunu wrote:

"My lawyer
succeeded to reveal a few very important facts:

1.This
General of the Army also was not allowed to see all the secrets that he is
required to protect by these restrictions that they claim I know them. So, he
gave orders of restrictions without knowing what he is protecting or that he is
also following orders blindly, and Mossad Sheen Bet using its authority for
just punishing me.
2. He testified that it is not a crime for me to talk with foreigners in
general anywhere.
3. He testified that I can speak freely to any Israeli citizens about anything;
it is not his concern what I am saying to them. These Israelis can give this
information to any foreigners. It was difficult for the Judge to understand why
this dichotomy exits between foreigners and Israelis.It means that
it is not about secrecy but about something
else."

Something else
indeed, is how Vanunu has endured the last twenty-three years: Opera

"Opera
inspires me, it gives me strength. When I was twenty-two I stopped listening to
pop; The Beatles, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan. I like challenges and began listening
to opera. It builds skyscrapers in my mind. Opera is nutrition for the brain.
Opera enlarges and develops the brain. Opera speaks to my brain…Every morning I
am in my room until eleven listening to opera. I find ways to enjoy myself as
my way of resistance. I transform anger into positive energy."

Vanunu
also vents his righteous rage in daily 2 ½ hour walks during the most brutally hot
hours of the day as he travels the streets of occupied East Jerusalem to the checkpoints at Bethlehem, Qalandyia and Lazarus'
Tomb.

Every
Wednesday he plays coed volleyball and has dinner with the community of the LutheranChurch of the Redeemer in the OldCity, where he has been a member for the last three
years. Every
Sunday, Vanunu attends the English and then the German service because he likes
the music.

I attended
both services with him and then we had lunch on the roof of Papa Andreas
restaurant. I reminded Vanunu of the lunch we had there last November on the final
day of Sabeel's Nakba Conference: Read
more...

Vanunu
had consented to give a video interview update, but he was a no show on the
roof where the videographer had set up to tape. Vanunu now admitted, "I
was isolating myself from my supporters…I have felt bitter and held a grudge.
But I realized that is not helping me. I am pragmatic and I will do what serves
me and others.

"They
renewed the restrictions to not speak to foreigners until November. I meet
foreigners every day. I am talking with people every day. But I am not writing
or announcing the appeal until after it happens. It was scheduled for January, then May 6th and June 18th. Now I am waiting for a new court date.

"The
Central Commander of the General Army testified in court that it is OK if I
speak in public as long as I do not talk about nuclear weapons.

"I
think the court will realize even if they send me back for three months-what
will they do after that?

"It
is all about freedom of speech and they cannot keep me here forever…They want
revenge because I survived the system…The isolation in prison made me feel like
I was loosing my mind. I felt like I was dieing.

"Jesus
Christ's strong message to the Israelis of 2,000 years ago is that they were
wrong in rejecting him. By going to church I am reminding Israel of JC. JC and
I both did a good job for humanity.

"Obama
needs to wake up and talk and walk. But America has lost eight years. America needs to free itself from
the Israeli state. Five million Jews should not dictate to America what they shall do.

"The
USA needs to wake up from
9/11. That was when America lost her way."

In the mail to
Cindy/Cheryl, President Obama and President Carter are a few of my photos
attached to the letter I mailed them and published on June 23, 2009

Visitors since 07.22.05

Visitors: 27384483

"HOPE has two children.The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine

"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." - Aquinas

Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

" In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."-Mother Teresa

“You cannot talk like sane men around a peace table while the atomic bomb itself is ticking beneath it. Do not treat the atomic bomb as a weapon of offense; do not treat it as an instrument of the police. Treat the bomb for what it is: the visible insanity of a civilization that has ceased...to obey the laws of life.”- Lewis Mumford, 1946

The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership....a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition. The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and common sense, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understanding between cultures." - William Fulbright

“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” - Rev. MLK

Establishment of Israel

"On the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations." - May 14, 1948. The Declaration of the Establishment of Israel